Events and Athletes Discussion

[EIIR]

I really hate the posturing and the arrogance of Bolt and his 100m opponents. A great achievement by Bolt without question, but the 100m has become such a circus.

How can a tiny island like Jamaica produce so many really top class sprinters, both male and female?

[Pranter]

What else do they have there besides soccer and track...not much I don't think.



LaRae

[NGalitzine]

Originally Posted by EIIR

How can a tiny island like Jamaica produce so many really top class sprinters, both male and female?

There is an emphasis on track and field events in the Jamaican public school system, and it is highly competitive. They have major competitions between their schools that coaches from American universities come to watch to recruit students. It is seen as a way out of poverty.

Usain Bolt earns 80% of all of the sponsorship money awarded to track and field athletes in the world. Sport has made him a millionaire many times over. Fortunately he believes in giving back, funding a medical clinic in his home town and having his sponsor give free shoes to the kids in schools so they have the proper footwear in run in.

I don't think he is arrogant. He is a bit of a showman but I think he does it with humour and always seem quite approachable and friendly.

[Al_bina]

Originally Posted by Artemisia

Armenia won a silver in Men's 74kg Greco-Roman.
Congratulations to Arsen!

We were really, really close to winning a gold, just a couple more seconds... Still, silver is great too.
It means we have now surpassed our Beijing achievement (back then, we won 6 bronze medals, but not gold or silver).

Two medals in a day... Not bad, not bad at all.
Armenia is one of the strongest countries in Greco-Roman, so hopefully, there'll be more medals.

Congratulations to Armenian sportsmen/women!

Spletnik.ru --- Olympic Games 2012: Tennis, swimming, and collapse

[Archduchess Zelia]

Second gold medal for Denmark! Quite unexpectedly it didn't come from either our badminton boys or Jonas Høgh Christensen (who all won silver), but from our track cyclist Lasse Norman Hansen. Another brilliant day for us and we've actually reached the initial goal of eight medals, it's gonna be exciting to see if we can actually get more.

[An Ard Ri]

Saw this earlier on the news


Spectator arrested after bottle thrown at 100m final


Spectator arrested after bottle thrown at 100m final - Telegraph

[Mademoiselle Lilo]

Bolt was amazing i didn't see who can take this medal from him anyway
so so sorry for Federrer it may be his last chance for Olympic medal on the other hand i am so happy for Murray he finally won something big...well done.

[NGalitzine]

Originally Posted by Mademoiselle Lilo

Bolt was amazing i didn't see who can take this medal from him anyway
so so sorry for Federrer it may be his last chance for Olympic medal on the other hand i am so happy for Murray he finally won something big...well done.

I am sure Fed will get over it, disappointed as he may be at the moment. He does after all have a fistfull of Grand Slam titles to go with his Olympic mens singles silver and his Olympic mens doubles gold medals.

[FasterB]

Originally Posted by NGalitzine

Hurrah, he did it again. 9:64 a new Olympic record. Party in Jamaica!!!

And again: The time was 9:63

[Mademoiselle Lilo]

he said tonight he is not sad and so happy with the silver
there is that impression that he didn't do anything to deserve this gold medal this time if you ask me Murray rocks

[XeniaCasaraghi]

China's back in the lead by one! I swear this back and forth between China and America isn't going to stop until the Olympics is over. I should stop checking in because its really giving me heart problems. :p

[Duke of Marmalade]

Originally Posted by EIIR

I really hate the posturing and the arrogance of Bolt and his 100m opponents. A great achievement by Bolt without question, but the 100m has become such a circus.

I think the 100m have always been a circus, even before Bolt. Carl Lewis, Ben Johnson, Florence Griffith-Joyner ... all of them were entertainers of their time. Sprinters are showmen, have always been.

Cool, cooler, Bolt

Usain Bolt wins 100m final at London 2012 Olympics | Mail Online

I even think that Bolt losing to Blake in the built-up was kind of calculated to build up some tension or get even more attention or to make the betting market more interesting.

[LadyFinn]

Usain Bolt is a great athlete, who has not yet reached his limits. It will be interesting to see him at 200 meters. It is amazing to watch Usain's and Yohan Blake's preparation for the race, the joy and relaxed friendship, which they show is good to see. The sport doesn't have to be so serious.
I love to watch Bolt, everything what he does. He is a great showman, and sport needs more them.

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by FasterB

And again: The time was 9:63

It's only that because they rounded it down. He did a 9:64 and they altered it.

Living in Yorkshire has its advantages

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...Australia.html

A discussion about young retirees in equestrian sports, but Ian Miller the Canadian show jumper is competing in his 10th Olympics. He's 65. No early retirement there.

UPDATE: GOLD FOR TEAM GB IN SHOWJUMPING!

First in 60 years!!!

[Artemisia]

Team GB won it's first Olympic gold in men's team show jumping since 1952.
Good job, guys!

[Empress Merel]

And good job to the Dutch guys. Did a fantastic job. Honorable mention ofcourse to Saodi-Arabia. Who would've guessed?

[Artemisia]

Jason Kenny won Men's Cycling sprint against France's Gregory Bauge, bringing 18th gold to Team GB.
Meanwhile, Beth Tweddle won bronze on the uneven bars, becoming the oldest British gymnast to win Olympic medal in gymnastics in 48 years (Beth is 27).

Current Team Standings:
1. China: 31 Gold - 19 Silver - 14 Bronze = 64 Total
2. USA: 28 Gold - 14 Silver - 19 Bronze = 61 Total
3. United Kingdom: 18 Gold - 11 Silver - 11 Bronze = 40 Total
4. South Korea: 11 Gold - 5 Silver - 6 Bronze = 22 Total
5. France: 8 Gold - 9 Silver - 9 Bronze = 26 Total
6. Italy: 7 Gold - 6 Silver - 4 Bronze = 17 Total
7. Kazakhstan: 6 Gold - 0 Silver - 0 Bronze = 6 Total
8. Russia: 5 Gold - 17 Silver - 15 Bronze = 37 Total
9. Germany: 5 Gold - 10 Silver - 7 Bronze = 22 Total
10. Hungary: 4 Gold - 1 Silver - 3 Bronze = 8 Total
11. North Korea: 4 Gold - 0 Silver - 1 Bronze = 5 Total
12 The Netherlands: 3 Gold - 3 Silver - 4 Bronze = 10 Total
44. Armenia: 0 Gold - 1 Silver - 1 Bronze = 2 Total

The Top 3 teams occupy the corresponding spots both by gold medal and total medal counts. Russia is 4th by total medal count. Kazakhstan is amazing. Armenia is included simply because I couldn't resist - and because I hope we'll improve the standings in coming days. Right now, the results are a bit shabby, but we're still proud of our athletes, those who won medals, and those who didn't manage to, but still did their best.

Originally Posted by Empress Merel

And good job to the Dutch guys. Did a fantastic job. Honorable mention ofcourse to Saodi-Arabia. Who would've guessed?

The Netherlands fought really well and wow to Saudi Arabia.
A beautiful picture of the Greenwich Park, the venue for Equestrian. Really quite stunning.

[EIIR]

A special word for Nick Skelton, part of the GB show jumping team who won gold today. Nick broke his neck in 2000 and his doctors told him not to ride horses again, certainly not competitively. He didn't listen to them and he gets his ultimate reward today, at the age of 54. Well done him.

[Elly C]

Wow that is a stunning picture. There are some fantastic venues for this Olympics

[EIIR]

Originally Posted by Artemisia

The Netherlands fought really well and wow to Saudi Arabia.
A beautiful picture of the Greenwich Park, the venue for Equestrian. Really quite stunning.

I agree, Artemisia, the newly 'Royal' borough of Greenwich is a wonderful stage for the equestrian events. The residents in Greenwich were massively opposed to having the equestrian events there, not sure why. Any locals know what the problem was?

The equestrian events in 2008 were actually held in Hong Kong, over 1,000 miles from Beijing, where everything else was happening. The competitors said they felt kind of cut off from the rest of the Games, so London 2012 wanted to rectify that, which I think they have.

Thanks for this picture too, it's now my desktop picture .